This week helped me reflect more deeply on the role of a teacher in difficult contexts like conflict and displacement. I already understood that teachers influence students’ lives, but the VPLP framework made me think more critically about how education can play very different roles: sometimes as a victim of conflict, sometimes even as a perpetrator, but ideally as a liberator or peacebuilder. In my context, I can clearly see how education is often limited by political, social, and economic barriers, yet teachers still try to create small spaces where students can feel hope and dignity.

The Ecological Systems Theory also helped me understand that what students bring into the classroom is shaped by many systems beyond the school. Their family situations, community conditions, policies, displacement experiences, and even technology all influence how they learn and behave. In my own teaching experience, I have often seen that a student’s difficulties in learning are rarely just about the lesson itself; they are usually connected to wider realities in their lives.

These theories helped me realise that while teachers cannot solve every problem students face, we can still act within the systems we influence the most, especially the classroom environment. By creating trust, listening to students, and adapting our teaching approaches, we can help students feel supported and capable of learning despite difficult circumstances.

One question I would like to ask the educators is:

How can teachers realistically create meaningful change across the mesosystem or exosystem levels when they have very limited authority or resources within the education system?

In many conflict or displacement settings, teachers may recognise the wider issues affecting students but may not have the power to influence those larger systems. I would be interested to learn practical ways teachers can navigate this challenge.